


It begins with the little things

by TheRavenOnTheMountain



Series: A Different Path [1]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, M/M, Pre-Quest of Erebor, rebirth as a dwarf, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-06 21:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18225785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRavenOnTheMountain/pseuds/TheRavenOnTheMountain
Summary: In our world a guy named Peter died.Somewhere a dwarfling that wasn't supposed to be, took his first breath.The story changes.





	1. Being born is more confusing when you remember it

#### Nori

Nori couldn't even put into words _how _relieved she was.__  
For a moment she had feared the worst, staring at the tiny body that wasn't moving and slowly turned blue.  
But then, like a answer to her silent prayers, it had _moved _, filling his little lungs with air to scream his displeasure into the mountain.__  
A fighter from the first minutes of his life.  
"He is beautiful."  
If her brothers voice sounded chocked up, she wouldn’t mention it.

___ _

#### Peter

Peter was so confused.  
No, confused didn’t cut it.  
At one moment he laid there, sure he was dying  
and now he was in the arms of a bearded woman.  
At least he thinks it’s a woman.  
His eyes weren’t really working that well.  
Something seemed...familiar about her but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

The man, if it was one, next to her said something in a rumbling voice that he couldn’t make out.  
It sounded like a different language all together if he thought about it.  
Maybe he hit his head?

Did they pull him from the car wreck?  
But it wasn't the sky behind the womans head, even he could make that out.  
What was going on?!

#### Nori

"His name is Dwari.", she answered, very aware of how obvious the name was.  
Dori made a weird sound, between gasping and choking,  
which would have made her laugh in any other situation.

"Dwari?Like in _the guard Dwalin? _The cousin of Thorin? ",__  
Doris voice sounded at the edge of panic.  
"Of course like in Dwalin.  
He is my one after all.", she almost smiled but forced herself not to.  
Saying it out loud gave her this weird feeling back ,  
that had overwhelmed her when she recognized him as such.  
Like some lovesick dwarfling.  
She knew better than that.

____

Her brother looked like a fish on land trying to breath.  
As soon as he found his bearings, came the cutting question that she expected.  
"Does he know?", his eyes were hard as iron.

#### Dori

"Of course not."  
Dori didn‘t know if he should be relieved or horrified.  
Dwalin hadn‘t just left the pregnant Nori on her own then, but he also wasn‘t even aware of his childs existence.  
The only reason he hadn‘t pressed the issue from the beginning,  
was that he had thought it was one of these lowlifes with which Nori had spend her time with.  
Someone like that would only have given them more problems after all.  
Not to forget that he really didn't need anyone to charge him for murder if he knew which one to find.  
So it seemed to have been for the best.

But Dwalin?  
The respected guard that was a trusted cousin to the crown prince?  
Not to forget her one!  
The royal family would be furious.

 

„Of course“, Dori thought as he stroked the tiny head, „it _is _Nori who has the final say in this.“__

####  __Nori_ _

____

She had thought about telling him of course.  
There was no sense in it though.  
It had been nothing but some careless passion,  
sparked from the overwhelming feeling of finding your one, that lead to this.  
They didn't _actually _mean anything to each other.  
Even if they did, the Durins were already weakened enough without associating with someone of an enstranged family branch that was... _her _.____

_____ _

Of course, she _knew _that it was hard enough for Dori__  
to get them through without another mouth to feed.  
But she hadn’t really _expected _that Mahal would actually let her _keep _this blessing.____  
Not that she was stupid enough to risk such a gift by asking for the why.  
They would manage.  
As always.

_____ _

Dwari was worth it, she decided as she behold the tiny face.  
He looked so curious and confused at her with these big grey eyes,  
she could already see him grow up to be so much like Ori with this much curiousity in his eyes.  
Becoming a scribe, a tailor or if Mahal had a sense of humour maybe even a guard.  
But no thief.  
She wouldn‘t allow _that _for her child.__

______ _ _

Suddenly the door slammed open and the voice of her favourite brother chimed through the room.  
"I came as soon as Lord Balin let me!"  
Ori‘s face was shining with excitement about the newest addition to the family.

______ _ _

The weight of the bed shifted as he climbed on it until he could look over her shoulder.  
His voice seemed almost surprised as he muttered: "He is so tiny!"  
The little hand seemed so big as it took the small one of Dwari in his.

______ _ _

#### Dwari

_______He was... _tiny _.___  
At least his hand was and that was shocking enough.  
If he could at least get his stupid head to turn! 

__________There were so many things running through his mind.  
But he was still sore and so damn _tired _.__  
Or maybe it was the stress and the panic that had exhausted him.  
Truth be told, it was hard to even stay awake 

####  __Narrator_ _

____

The older Ri siblings couldn’t help but smile at Ori and little Dwari.  
The pebble was falling asleep while Nori gently shifted him into the arms of Ori.  
Dori instantly used the opportunity to show their little brother the right way to hold his nephew.  
It was adorable.  
Maybe the birth of the little one showed that Mahal was looking a bit fonder onto the Ri Family.  
Durin knows they needed it. 

______________While the three dwarrows gushed about the small dwarfling that was their newest family member,  
that same dwarfling who possessed the very confused mind of an almost grown man dreamed of books melting into movies and hobbits facing dragons.  
He started to _remember._  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is my first fic and I don't have a beta reader so if anyone finds mistakes, please tell me.


	2. Sometimes you need some loving force

Dori watched the little one as he tried to put a little tower together.  
He had just learned how to sit and seemed to enjoy it more than one would expect.  
Though Dori suspected it had more to do with how fussy the dwarfling had been whenever he laid in his cradle too long.  
Energetic little guy.

Suddenly Dwari stared at him as if he just realised his uncle was there.  
If he was any older, Dori would have said that the little gem was _furrowing his brows in thought._  
He did such things sometimes, looking like he wanted to imitate a grown up.  
Honestly, Dori never saw a babe before that learnt how to glower before it learnt to smile.  
That had to be from Dwalin‘s side.

He was ripped from his thoughts by a tiny arm that started waving one of the little building stones at him  
and Dori took it happily, humoring the babe by marveling at the great „gift“.  
He didn‘t see how Dwari huffed like he just found himself to be sorrounded by idiots.  
_Babes didn‘t do such things afterall._

Just when he thought he had marveled enough to satisfy the little one,  
he saw up and realized that Dwari had put one of the rather big stones into his mouth.  
Through years of experience in recognizing a choking hazard, Dori was on him before he even fully _processed_ the sight in front of him.  
„No!“, he told his nephew firmly, taking the toy away from him,  
„We don‘t eat the stones, we _build_ with them.“

Dwari looked at him as if he‘d just sputtered in elvish.  
Instantly he fell into his usually worrying, about his gem of a nephew not even understanding simple words yet.  
Ori had been _so fast_ to grap such simple words at that age.  
Though he had to admit that Nori herself _still_ seemed to struggle with understanding the word "no"...

Hopefully that wasn't _a hereditary_ habit.

Just before he could fully lose himself in his fretting, the little one decided to just take _another_ stone of the pile and calmly shove it into his cheek _while holding Dori‘s gaze._  
Mahal, puperty would be _a nightmare_ with this one.

Taking the other stone away too, Dori picked his nephew from the ground and walked into the bedroom his family shared.  
Dwari looked more then perplexed when he was put into the cradle.  
It was old, having been for Ori once, but it still did it‘s job to _keep_ the little one where he was _supposed_ to be.  
What was exactly what was needed right now.

Instead of fussing, as he expected, Dwari just _stared_ at him as if he wanted answers.  
Dori put his hands on his hips and gave him the same look that Nori had gotten so often (though not at that age).  
„Little dwarflings that can‘t listen won‘t get any playtime.“

Something like realization came over this little face as Dori made no move to change anything at the current situation.  
Then the expected wailing came crashing down.

It was better to just let him tire out with his screaming and kicking,  
Dori had enough experience to know that by now, so he sat onto the bed and waited.  
As predicted, sleep didn‘t wait long before taking the now exhausted dwarfling.  
At least some things tended to include _all children_.

It was about an hour later when his nephew woke.  
Thanks to no other than Nori herself.

She stormed in as he was cooking, looking like she just had run the whole way home.  
„Dori!“, she called out and he just knew that if her slamming of the door hadn‘t woke Dwari, _this_ had for sure done it.  
„Nori, why in the world are you storming in like-“  
„I know!But Dwalin is coming here!“, she rudely interrupted.  
(As if he didn‘t teach her any manners at all!)  
„You finally told him?“, Dori asked without much confidence but hoping anyway.

Noris braided brows seemed to try and _dissapair_ with how high they wandered.  
„Why would I do that?!", she exclaimed, "He searches me for-...for a job he thinks I did.  
I don‘t need him to come here and search the house, finding what he shouldn‘t!“

What.  
No, he didn‘t even wanted to ask what _exactly_ she planned to do.  
Durin‘s beard, she was giving him _another_ headache again.

Dori couldn‘t help it.  
Realizing that he still held that damn spoon, he gave his sister an angry whack over her stubborn head with it.  
Ignoring her angry muttering, he walked back into the bedroom, greeted by a very confused looking Dwari.

Taking the little gem into his arms, he turned back around and marched to this _nerve-wrenching_ sister of his.  
„What are you-“, he didn‘t let her finish, just pressed the babe into her arms.  
„You tell him, or by Mahal, _I will do it_!“, he threatened.

Nori had the nerve to look offended!  
Pressing the little one to her chest she almost hissed at him: _„That‘s not your decision to make!“_

_"Breath"_ , he told himself , _"just breath in and count to ten."_  
„Now listen here, Nori!“,  
he said and took the same stance he had used only a hour prior on his nephew,  
„That Dwarf is his sire!The least is to let him know!  
Not to forget that Mahal knows we could use some extra hands!“

If he hadn‘t already known it, Nori‘s are-you-sputtering-elvish-expression would have been a giveaway of Dwari‘s parentage.  
Maybe the glowering couldn‘t all be blamed on Dwalin.

Said dwarf seemed to lack manners too,  
for he suddenly barged into their little home before Nori even had a chance to answer her brother.  
„Don‘t you dare deny it, Nori!I know y-“,  
whatever else was supposed to be in this tirade died down as his eyes found the dwarfling in Nori‘s arms.  
There was an uncomfortable _stretching_ silence of Dwalin just staring at the three while two of them starred back.  
Dwari was too distracted with his mothers braids.

„...Oh.“

Wonderful.  
They would be here for years before there was any results, thanks to Nori‘s stubborness and Dwalin‘s obvious fluency in words.  
Well, _they_ would.  
He decided that he would go to that nice tea house that was _just_ in his price range instead.  
It felt like he hadn‘t talked to Namir _in ages _.__

__„I won‘t hesistate to whack you again if you haven‘t gotten to the gist of it when I‘m back.“,  
with that statment Dori closed the door behind him and left these two idiots to sort themselves out._ _

__Yes, he decided.  
He _really_ deserved to have a break for once._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Experimenting a bit with the perspectives here because Dwari doesn't understand what they're saying yet and can't even crawl right now.  
> All he can do physically is roll over, sit, look around as far as his chubby baby neck allows and put things in his mouth.  
> So his perspective would be pretty much summarized in "confused around the clock", "taste testing" and "being handed around" at this moment.


	3. Words and Deeds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nori is tense as a bow string.  
> Dwalin has three questions to ask.  
> Dwari still has no idea what's going.

Dwalin had never been good with words.  
Where his brother had their father’s silver tongue,  
he instead carried the same passionate temper that his mother had owned.  
It never bothered him before.

After all, Balin was the one to become an adviser like Fundin.  
Dwalin was content with cracking some skulls and protecting the royal ass of his friend Thorin  
from whatever trouble he was getting in next.  
Until now.

He and Nori hadn’t traded a single word, the mood still tense.  
He sneaked a peak at the gorgeous copper haired dam before him and _the babe_ in her arms.  
It had some facial features that were just so clearly of house Durin.  
The age would fit too.

It seemed...he had sired a child.  
_Mahal_ , he had a child!  
It was such a wondrous thought, really.

Before that fateful night with Nori, suddenly _recognizing her as his one_ ,  
he always had seen himself as married to his craft.  
Fighting was just easier for him than going around charming potential partners.  
It just wasn‘t his sort of thing to search romance of all things.  
(The weight in his pouch seemed to call that out as a lie though.)

Not to forget that the royal line would probably get itself killed the moment he laid down arms.  
Dis would manage, but Thorin and Frerin?  
They practically searched for trouble on _a daily basis_.

But since that night with Nori he had been visited by daydreams.  
Dwalin didn‘t tend to _daydream_!  
After all, such things got a warrior to an early grave!  
Though now he couldn’t really help it.  
Not after seeing what the cocky lass _really_ was to him.

How he yearned to braid her hair and put his beads in it.  
To lay the world at her feet and create weapons for her nimble hands.  
But he hadn‘t even _dared_ to dream of a child.  
How could he, when they were even more precious then mythril?  
But there it was.  
A little Durin of dark copper.  
_Mahal._

How he wished in that one moment to own his brothers talent with words.  
To tell her everything he wanted to say and ask his questions.  
But there they sat, silently.

After what felt like an eternity, the silence was broken by none other than the babe.  
The little one tugged at his mother’s collar, pointed at Dwalin and babbled excitedly at her.  
Something wistful in his very bones wanted to believe that the pebble recognized him as its adad.  
So he did that.

\--------------------------

Pet- Dwari just couldn’t hold it in any longer.  
That dwarf had a Mohawk!  
Since when did dwarrows have these!?  
He hadn‘t any memories of dwarrows with _fashion statements_!

\--------------------------

Dwalin watched the little ones antics and _finally_  
found the guts to ask the question that pressed on him like a hundred anvils.  
Taking a deep breath he pushed the words out before he could decide against it:  
"Did you think I would leave the child unclaimed?"  
(Or worse, that he didn‘t deserve to raise their child with her?)

For a moment the stoic mask that Nori had worn since that night broke.  
He could make out the slight quiver of her chin, how she drew her shoulder up and avoided to look at him.  
Then she hide it again, as if he was some _enemy_ searching for a weak point.  
It hurt more than he expected.

After that she just sat there,  
playing with the dwarflings dark copper curls and continuing to avoid his eyes.

"I...I didn’t knew what to think.I still don’t.",  
her voice lacked the usual bravado which he came to associate her with.

Dwalin didn’t know if that made it better or worse.  
She didn’t found him unworthy of fatherhood.  
But she _was_ unsure about him in other important ways.

Words _weren’t_ his strength.  
So he decide to _show_ her his heart with deeds.

He took three big steps to stand in front of Nori and the child,  
then kneeled before her in a swift motion.  
Her eyes widened almost comically.

"What are y-"

The words died in her troath as he pulled out the wrapped package he had kept in the pouch on his belt.

"Nori, daughter of Lori.  
I’m not a dwarf of many words but may you still give me the honor  
of accepting this gift and letting me court you?", he tried to say it like Balin had teached him.  
It still didn‘t sound as formal as he was supposed to put it.

Instead of answering immediately, Nori’s whole posture seemed to have stiffened.  
Reaching out her free hand, she gently took the fabric and drew it up.  
He could hear a sharp intake of air as she saw it.

She gently gripped the adorned dagger by the hilt and took a closer look at it.  
Dwalin watched as she expertedly inspected his handiwork while keeping it out of the babes reach.  
Nori’s lips were parted in what he _hoped_ to be wonder as her eyes roamed over the weapon.  
"You...made this for _me_?", her voice was almost to quite to hear.  
Trying to keep calm, he took a steadying breath before he answered.  
"Aye, started the day after we...you know."

When his eyes found hers, he realized with shock that there was a shimmering of unshead tears.  
The dagger found its place on the little table next to them before she turned back to him.  
There was something in her face, an unruliness he found to have missed.

"Let’s skip the courting!", she quipped with that beautiful crooked grin of hers.  
Dwalin tried in vain not to laugh.  
"My brother would kill me," he stated as a big smile slowly broke over his face.

"As will Dori.", she answered in a cheeky tone,  
"but then he shouldn’t have left us two alone now, should he?  
I mean we already have a child, so what did he expect?"

Something warm glowed in his chest and he took her hand in his own.  
His other found her cheek and he cupped her face, unable to move his eyes from hers.  
" _Our_ child?", he attempted warmly, testing the words.  
Her grin grew into a radiant smile.  
"Aye.", Nori whispered to him like a secret, " _our_ son Dwari."

 

"A fine name."

"That‘s why I chose it."

 

An hour later Dori came home to an empty house.  
At least nobody heard him curse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A serving of eloping dwarrows, anyone?


End file.
